Cabbie sentenced to conditional discharge for New Year's Day hit-run

View full sizeJohn Berry / The Post-StandardJohn Sauro, of Syracuse, was sentenced by Onondaga County Judge William Walsh to a felony count of leaving the scene of an incident without reporting it in connection with a Jan. 1 hit-and-run crash that injured Mahogany Maddox on New Year's Day.

Syracuse, NY - A Syracuse cab driver was sentenced today to a three-year conditional discharge for a hit-run crash that injured a city woman New Year's Day.

John Sauro, 43, of 626 North Ave. was also to have been sentenced to some weekends in jail but County Judge William Walsh allowed the brief time Sauro served in jail after his arrest to cover the incarceration period.

Sauro pleaded guilty Feb. 9 to a felony count of leaving the scene of an incident without reporting it in connection with the Jan. 1 crash that injured Mahogany Maddox, 35.

Assistant District Attorney Frank Pelosi and defense lawyer Donald VanStry said Maddox was lying in the street when she was struck by the cab Sauro was driving at South Geddes Street and Stolp Avenue.

VanStry said Sauro was distracted by the intoxicated fares in his cab and by a car that was double-parked and blocking the street when he struck Maddox. The defense lawyer said Sauro stopped about a half a block away after one of his fares said he'd just run over someone.

Sauro thought the person looked okay so he decided to get back in his cab and drive away, VanStry said.

New Year's Day Hit and Run Taxi Driver SentencedAttorney Donald VanStry talks about his client, John Sauro of Syracuse, who was sentenced by Onondaga County Judge William Walsh on a felony count of leaving the scene of an incident without reporting it in connection with the Jan. 1 hit and run crash that injured Mahogany Maddox. Video by John Berry / The Post-Standard

The defense lawyer called Sauro's decision to leave the scene "a terrible judgment call." But when Sauro saw a news account of the incident, he surrendered to police several days later, VanStry said.

Sauro feels terrible for the injuries Maddox sustained, but he didn't see her in the road and the incident was a complete accident, VanStry said.